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Tucson International Airport
Rating Details »
22 reviews for Tucson International Airport
While it's certainly not your Dulles or Narita when it comes to non-boring architecture, for simple functionality I don't mind switching planes here at all. No dread involved. It's a smaller airport, sort of reminds me of Dallas Love Field making it very easy to navigate. I don't see how anyone could get lost here and you don't need much time in between flights. Security has always been faster than average here (it ain't LAX). The seating at the gates appears to be older but hopefully you won't end up having to sit there long enough to be concerned with that. There's a great gift shop on the terminal level called Desert Trading Post that sells high quality T-Shirts and really cool cactus plants and seeds that make perfect gifts or a little something fun for yourself.
Their website is one of the worst I have ever seen, loaded with typos and misspelled words and it does not seem to be kept up to date anymore in regards to the restaurants and places to eat. There is a slim selection along those lines and nothing stands out to me as being special or a must try...
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Love the free wi-fi
Plus short lines and clean decor
At the T.I.A.
______
This is one of the best airports around. I've been to a lot of them, and most are full of disgruntled passengers and disgruntled employees, and just being there makes me feel depressed and irritated. At TIA, things are different: I could actually hang out here just for kicks. Parking is only $3 a day, and apparently rates just went up. There aren't a whole lot of flights/day and that's the main drawback, but I blame that more on the city than on the airport.
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TIA is by far the best airport I've used - who doesn't love short security lines, updated decor and free wifi?
I fly 2-3 times a month, so I'm quite familiar with the standard airport getup: long lines in security, pushy guards and TSA security staff, intrusive body scans (and sometimes pat-downs!), etc... The list goes on and on, but most of these negatives are all but absent at Tucson International!
First of all, the long term parking lots are reasonably priced. $4 / day for uncovered, $6 / day covered (these prices go up by $2/day in peak summer months). Compared to any other airport in other surrounding major cities, these rates are very reasonable. Park & Save transportation to and from the lot is also pretty decent, I've only once had to wait longer than five minutes to be picked up by their friendly drivers.
Once you get to the terminal, you'll be undoubtedly pleasantly surprised by the lack of lines! Unless you're coming on a busy weekend (like during the gem show or U of A graduation), lines are almost always 5-10 minute max waits. The security checkpoint is only manned by a couple staffers and you'll move through quickly.
Once inside, there are a couple decent places to eat (including a grill with a full bar). The airport was recently remodeled, so all floors / walls / ceilings / seats are brand new. The benches are particularly comfortable, made up of orange leather and aluminum backing. Very cool!
To top it all off, the [mens] bathrooms are completely redone. Waterless urinals have been installed (which makes me smile), that claim to save 50,000 gallons of water per year per urinal. In the desert, this is very important (and cool for an airport to be so environmentally responsible). The cherry on this metaphorical airport cupcake is free wifi! Yay!
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Small airport with no queue for security - such a rare occurrence today.
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How great is it that you can show up 10 minutes before a scheduled departure and still make it onto the plane? This small airport is wonderful in many ways.
1) They have a Boar's Head deli and a Cheeburger Cheeburger behind the security lines. Boar's Head creates an ambiance of calmness and serenity and Cheeburger Cheeburger has awesome onion rings.
2) Driving to the airport at 3:30 in the morning is much faster than driving there at 4 pm. At my hometown airport, it takes 35 minutes to drive there, regardless of the time of day. When I make my 3:30 am journeys to the airport I always feel like I am defying the laws of physics.
3) Security is lax. Guns have been found in the trash cans by the gates. They don't hassle you for not containing your liquids in clear ziplock bags but they still require shoes to be removed.
4) This is a low-traffic airport. If you do encounter any lines at check-in, the maximum number of people in front of you will never exceed 8. Additionally, there are no lines at the kiosk machines.
5) The parking lot is dangerously close to the terminal entrance. None of the "walk over the ramp and under the tunnel" nonsense exists. There will always be convenient parking available.
5 1/2) Parking is about $1 per half hour.
6) The airport is easy to navigate. Three floors: bottom for baggage, middle for check-in, top for gates.
The major downside is that flying out of Tucson usually costs more than paying for a shuttle service and flying out of Phoenix.
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Easy in and out. Kinda far from the northside but pretty well located if you live tothe South...even in Tubac...its shorter in time from Tubac to this airport than it is from the Upper West Side to JFK. Time it sometime. I have. The downside--Not many flights, and fewer and fewer every day. But still...for being clean and easy to use and no hassle...Five Stars
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Tucson Airport is clean and well maintained. They also work very efficiently here, even during busy times. The views coming from the east are breathtaking. There is mostly flat land before you reach Tucson and as soon as you start seeing the green mountains, you know you are home.
It is not cheap flying in and out of Tucson though. The planes times are sparse too. But I like this airport enough that I am writing a review about it.
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For being an international airport, this one is NOT confusing. It's clean, you can zip through security pretty quickly and find your gate in 30 seconds. I was in concourse B, and of course my favorite part of it all was the food. They had a good selection of healthier food options, which is incredibly rare in an airport. They had a deli, gourmet fired pizza (I know not healthy but looked amazing), and the express market leans toward healthier snacks. By that I mean instead of Doritos they had tons of juice, organic chips and Newman's. They also have sushi and noodles. No McDonald's fry smell wafts through to the other end of the hall. The bathrooms were all touch free.
There is a bar and a coffee bar at the end of the terminal, they messed up drink and I swear gave me regular instead of soy, but aside from that waste this airport was great.
I rode a gas guzzing bus to the Tucson International Airport ( sincere first-hand experience).
I walked around the smallish Tucson International Airport ( sincere first-hand experience).
I felt nothing ( sincere first-hand experience) since it is a boring place.
I thought the Tucson International Airport had bland places to eat, & sit down in (sincere first-hand experience).
The entire acreage is taken up by car "parking lots" ( sincere first-hand experience).
You're better off flying out of Phoenix ( sincere first-hand experience).
This Review is a sincere first-hand experience Review.
Yup.
At first I thought this beautiful airport had not been reviewed, but it had. I just couldn't find it at first because it was originally listed as the Airport Authority, but that's been fixed through Yelp HQ magic. Thanks, Pam!
It's small, only one terminal as far as I can tell, and seems new. Probably it's been recently rebuilt or remodeled. I love small airports. In no time we were at the gate and it was hardly a walk to the luggage carousels. The bathrooms are beautiful, w/ iridescent glass mosaic tiles surrounding the mirrors and hand formed (seemingly) tile murals at the entrances. The murals are dated 2008. There's a comfortable looking lounge area between the pairs of luggage carousels, a touch I've never seen in an airport. Best of all, the overhead announcements are done by a man whose voice is pleasant and modulated. Art on the walls is attractive and rental cars are close.
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This is not the kind of airport where you are lost and endlessly walking once you pass security.
Nope. Check-in... and walk through security in a never stopping line and you are a few hundred feet from your gate. Simple.
The only confusion was that because of the holidays USAirways was running two flight to Phoenix one minute apart. Very confusing. Aggravating too because the gate agents were so hyper about it they kept announcing "look at your ticket" etc... It's amazing how oblivious some people are even when told of a confusion.
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I LOVE flying out of TIA. I'll go out of my way to do so. It's definitely one of the best American airports I've encountered.
There are rarely lines anywhere, be it at the ticket counter, at security or at the cafes inside the terminals. There's a cozy, spacious waiting area between the terminals and the doors. There's also quite a bit of art in the building.
It's fairly convenient for driving but, if you can't, there are two public bus routes that run M-F until about 11pm. The #6 goes Downtown and takes about a half hour.
Inside the terminals, you've got Ike's coffee, which is a locally-owned and roasted variety. Concourse B also has a great bar, with some cool stuff on tap like Dead Guy Ale and Stella Artois. A pint runs $5, which is cheap for an airport bar.
The only issue is the number of flights. Back in the short-lived days of ExpressJet, it was a lot easier to get somewhere. There was a flight to Austin, Kansas City and even Spokane. Now there are just a few non-stops, although those are still useful. United has a non-stop to San Francisco (SFO), while Alaska has a non-stop to Seattle. Delta also runs its non-stop to Atlanta, while American has one to DFW, and Continental to Houston (IAH). Three airlines fly to Denver, two to LAX, and Southwest has its non-stops to both Albuquerque and San Diego.
Love it here! Fly Tucson!
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It's clean, quick, but there's a definite lack of food options and it's far from the north side.
Dear Tucson International Airport,
What a beautiful lounge you have out near the ticketing agents. It has such big wide open windows with expansive views and plenty of leg room. What fabulous art on the walls and fixtures that light the space just enough but not too much. I don't even feel like I am in an airport. My oh my what wonderfully huge cushy benches you have. And free wi-fi! I'm in heaven.
But wait.
What's this?
There are no outlets.
Could it be? I checked every pole and ever wall and every single outlet is too far to reach to the wonderful cushy couches for me to use my laptop with your free wifi. I have to sit on the floor.
Lounge FAIL.
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I travel quite frequently and have found that TUS is quite a nice little airport.
However here's why I took away 2 stars.
1. Parking....if you are new to the area and flying out and want to park in the garage at the airport, it's almost FARTHER than parking offsite at one of the value lots just outside the airport, plus also charges almost 4 TIMES the price ($16.99 a day onsite vs $3.99 a day offsite.)
Still a bargain though as parking at LAX was 34.99 a day.
2. Number of flights per day.....we all need to go somewhere and sometimes that somewhere where we need to go happens later in the day. Put it this way...if it's 7:00 at night and I NEED to get somewhere, most likely it ain't gonna happen, not cool.
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The little airport that could...Though I'm partial to most larger airports, this one is easy to get in and get out of. Security lines are not exhausting and long winding and once through security it's only a short walk to your gate. This airport also has free wi-fi.
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Definitely a 5 star travel experience--from an airport perspective. I unfortunately have a different review of the airline that stranded me there for 8 hours, but during those 8 hours I came to appreciate the simplicity of the the place: 3 minutes through security, and the TSA guys were actually nice--not wanna be Special Agents. Also the place is small and you do not have to get your OJ on to get to a gate on time (now I know the OJ reference might be lost on a few of you young ones, but before he was a murderer, he did commercials--I will leave it at that).
The most appreciated thing was the fact that the Bar was right by the gates, so when you are waiting for the unknown to happen--like a flight you might be able to take out of the god forsaken desert--you do not have to run back and forth from the bar stool to the monitors--you are already there.
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I love any airport where I don't feel lost. This one is small enough for that. Straight and to the point . . . . I love that!
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Tucson Airport is now NEW and IMPROVED!
Simple, fresh and open.
The airport is still smaller than most, but modern.
Baggage areas are huge and open.
Overall, this airport is a breeze when being compared
to most other U.S. airports today.
Tucson Intl has a nifty logo, a tiny security line, free wifi, lots of electrical outlets and F-16s taking off of neighboring runways.
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Being in an airport like this reminds me how much I hate O'Hare. It's so easy to get to and there's hardly any traffic going to it. It's very small, but everything is very organized and easy to find. I thought it was cute that each gate updated the flight times on a sign with changeable letters rather than a high tech sign. The people who are working there are also very helpful and friendly.
Wow this airport is small but organized !! I wish all airports were runned by the Tucson A.A. I caught a flight out of here back to Denver and was waaaaay to early. Unlike other airports it took me 15 mins from the time I was dropped off to when I was waiting at the gate. wow! I thought those days were over...lol ! Security lines were non-existent and everyone was cheerful.